Monday, May 27, 2002
Monday, May 27, 2002 |
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By Atul Aneja
Taking exception to the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's remarks in an interview to Washington Post, where he warned that Pakistani forces would move into Indian territory, in case of a war, the External affairs Ministry spokesperson, Nirupama Rao, said the international community should take clear notice of the Pakistani leadership's "actual mindset.'' "There is very real necessity for the international community to clearly understand the actual mindset of the Pakistani leadership.'' India's reaction to Gen. Musharraf's remarks assumes importance in the light of the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw's visit to India and Pakistan in the coming week. This will be followed by the visit of the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, on June 6. Gen. Musharraf's assertion was "yet another indication of Pakistan refusing to see the writing on the wall or to understand where the need for action lies. Action is required from Pakistan on stopping cross-border terrorism, dealing with infiltration and activities of terrorist groups,'' the spokesperson stressed. While reiterating that the Pakistani missile tests, including that of the short-range Ghaznavi that was fired today, were directed at a domestic audience, she sought to draw a link between Islamabad's acquiring missiles to its possible involvement in proliferating them for terrorism in the future. "The actions of Pakistan fit into the international community's nightmarish scenario of state-sponsored terrorist activities armed with ballistic missile technology and nuclear weaponry.'' Despite Pakistan designating the nearly 300-km range missile fired today as Ghaznavi, sources in the security establishment are of the view that the weapon is the old solid-fuelled Chinese built M-11 missile. Sources said Pakistan had been ascribing a variety of names to its missiles mainly acquired from China or North Korea. It is suspected that China has also provided Pakistan with the 800-km range M-9 missile. It is also possible that Beijing may be collaborating with Islamabad for the 2,000-km range M-18 weapon while North Korea, on its part, has provided Pakistan with its Nodong-1, rechristened Ghauri/Hatf-5. Pakistan has also, in the past, named the M-11 as Hatf-3/Shaheen and the M-9 as Hatf-4/Shaheen-I. Pakistan's much publicised 2000-km range Shaheen-II — also called Hatf-6 — is suspected to be another name for the Chinese M-18.
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